ADVANCED
PLACEMENT
UNITED
STATES
HISTORY
THE
MULTIPLECHOICE
SECTION
1
THE BASICS
Directions for the multiple choice
section are pretty simple
Essentially you will select the best
answer that fits the question and
record it on your answer sheet
2
Breakdown by Era
Era
Percent of
Questions
Number of
Questions
1600 - 1789
17
13 or 14
1790 - 1914
50
40
1915 - present
33
26 or 17
3
Breakdown by General Subject
Matter
Subject
Percent of Number of
Questions Questions
Political Institutions, Behavior and
35
28
Public Policy
Social Change
35
28
Diplomacy and Foreign Policy
15
12
Economic Change
10
8
Cultural and Intellectual
Developments
5
4
4
Explanation of Charts
bias toward the Constitution through WW I
emphasis on political and social activities
little about economic and cultural trends
very few post 1975 questions
(in past only 2-3)
5
Types of Questions
the majority of questions are pretty
straight-forward
for instance ……..
6
Roger Williams was exiled from the
Salem Bay Colony because he
a. endangered the colony by negotiating with
Native Americans’
b. championed the abolition of private property
c. questioned Parliament’s authority to tax the
colonists
d. disputed the authenticity of the Mayflower
compact
e. argued for the separation of church and
state
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and
the answer is
E
8
Sometimes questions have
four correct and one incorrect
answer. These are called
not/except questions.
9
The New deal included programs for
achieving all of the following goals
EXCEPT
a. developing an interstate highway system
b. stabilizing agricultural prices
c. insuring bank deposits
d. eliminating industrial overproduction
e. providing employment for the unemployed
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the answer is
A
11
Once or twice during the
multiple choice section, you
will be asked to interpret an
illustration, often a map or
political cartoon.
The key is NOT to read too
much between the lines.
12
Hanna: That man Clay
was an ASS. It’s better
to be president than to
be right!
The political cartoon
implies that
a.
Mckinley was the first president to favor big business interests
openly
b. b. by the 1890s, Henry Clay’s political approach had lost favor with
the electorate
c. McKinley’s presidential campaign was masterminded by Marcus Hanna
d. Marcus Hanna single-handedly controlled all three branches of the
federal government
e. McKinley was too young to be an effective president
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the answer is
C
14
There will be one or two
questions asking to interpret
a graph or chart.
Do not over-interpret the data.
The correct answer will be
indisputably supported by
information in the graph.
15
Average, Highest, and Lowest Approval Ratings, by
percentage of all eligible voters, for American Presidents,
1953 to 1974
Eisenhower
Kennedy
Johnson
Nixon
Average
65
70
55
49
High
79
83
79
67
Low
48
56
35
24
Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the information
presented in the chart above?
a. Eisenhower was the most consistently popular president in the nation’s
history
b. Kennedy received greater Congressional support for his programs than
did any other president during the period in question.
c. Nixon’s lowest approval rating was the result of the Watergate scandal
d.The difference between Johnson’s highest and lowest approval ratings
was the greatest for any president during the period in question
16
e. Eisenhower and Johnson were equally well liked by all Americans.
the answer is
D
17
No Military History and/or
Trivial Pursuit
the APUS exam doesn’t ask about
military history
when about war, questions concern
political or social implications of war
rather than details of warfare
18
APUS questions never test rote
memorization only.
While you have to know your facts to
do well, questions always ask for
information in the context of
larger historical trends.
19
Chronological Order
and the
Order of Difficulty
The multiple choice section of the
APUS exam is organized in a
predictable order.
There are two things you can depend
on:
20
Questions will be organized in groups of eight to twelve.
Each group is presented in chronological order.
For instance
• the first question in a group might ask about the
Townshend Acts (1767)
• the second about the feud between Hamilton and
Jefferson
• the third about the war of 1812
and so on……
21
There is a sharp break in chronology
when you move from one group to
another.
for example…
when you see a question about Martin
Luther King, Jr followed by a question
about the Chesapeake Bay colonies
you will know you have moved to a new
grouping.
22
each group of questions is more
difficult than the preceding group
questions generally appear in order of
difficulty, with easier questions
appearing at the beginning of the test
and the most difficult appearing at
the end
23
think of the first twenty questions as easy
questions twenty-one through sixty as
medium
and
sixty-one through eighty as difficult
24
Easy questions have easy answers. Do not
choose an obscure or trivial answer for an
easy question.
Go slowly at the beginning to avoid careless
mistakes on easier questions.
and
Avoid “reading into” easy questions.
25
Remember that all questions are worth
an equal amount toward your final
score.
Points you lose early in the test will be
much harder to make up later on.
26
The Big Picture
Keep the big picture in mind when
taking the exam.
Even if you cannot remember a specific
event or concept being tested, you
should be able to answer the question
by remembering general social and
political trends of the era.
27
Multiple Choice questions will NOT ask about
exceptions to historical trends.
The test determines if important
generalizations that can be drawn from
history have been mastered.
The following sample questions are designed
to illustrate basic principles of US History.
28
53. During the Harding and Coolidge administrations,
the Federal Trade Commission
• a. greatly increased the number of court cases it
brought against unethical businesses.
• b. controlled the rationing of food, rubber, and
gasoline
• c. generally worked to assist businesses, rather
than to regulate them
• d. was permanently eliminated
• e. saw its regulatory powers expanded
29
Here’s How to Crack It-• At first glance, this question appears to require you to
remember the history of the FTC. But, to answer all you
need is the BIG PICTURE.
• What was the attitude of 1920s presidents towards
business?
• They pursued policies favorable to business.
• Since pro-business governments weaken regulations, you
can eliminate answer choices A and E
• Rationing did not occur until WWII, so eliminate B
• The FTC is still around today so eliminate D
• The correct answer is C, which illustrates a BIG
PICTURE principle -- the 1920s were a pro-business era
30
68. “[This legislative body declares] that it views the
power of the Federal Government as resulting from the
compact to which the states are parties, as limited by
plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting
that compact… and that, in case of deliberate, palpable,
and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by
the said compact, the states… have the right, and are
duty bound, to interpose, for arresting the progress of
the evil, and maintaining… the authorities rights, and
liberties, pertaining to them.”
The quotation above appears in
a. the Halfway Covenant
b. The Wealth of Nations
c. Common Sense
d. Virginia Resolutions of 1798
e. The Liberator
31
Question 68 - therefore difficult
If you are prepared for the test and key on the big
picture this question is not that hard.
The quotation’s central concept is nullification (states
have the right try and stop the federal government
when it tries exercise too much power)
You can eliminate by knowing what each answer
represents
the Halfway Covenant - baptism of Puritans
Wealth of Nations - treatise on capitalism
Common Sense - written before there were states
The Liberator - an abolitionist newspaper
That leaves Virginia Resolutions of 1798
32
Alternative Approach - PJR
I did not attack this question in the same manner as
Mr. Billett.
After reviewing the answers I read the passage.
The phrase “the federal government” immediately
jumped out at me.
Answers A, B and C can be immediately eliminated as
all occurred prior to the existence of the federal
government.
Answer E is an Abolitionist newspaper so that is out.
D is the only possible answer.
33
The Guessing Penalty and
Process of Elimination
each wrong answer is worth - .25 points
each blank answer is worth 0 points
each correct answer is worth +1.00 points
The question is, “Does guessing have any
value towards your score?”
The answer is YES
34
Statistically speaking, once you
eliminate at least one or more
incorrect answers choices, guessing
WILL improve your final score.
35
For example
Take five questions where you guessed the
answer.
The probability is you will get at least one
right (+1) and four wrong 4 x .25 (-1)
netting a total of zero.
That’s the same if you skipped them/left all
of them blank.
Random guesses cancel each other out in
36
the long run
You will be rarely faced with a question
where you can’t eliminate at least one
answer.
In many cases you will be able to eliminate at
least two if not three.
When you get this far, you MUST guess from
the remaining answers.
37
Does this mean you should guess on every
question on the test?
NO
You only have a limited amount of time to
spend on the multiple choice section.
38
The first thing you want to do is answer
every question to which you know the
answer.
39
Then
Go through a process of elimination to
whittle down your answer choices to
one on questions 1- 20 (easy section),
then 21 - 60 (medium section) and
finally 61 - 80 (difficult section).
40
This strategy will help you find the
correct answer and improve your
overall score.
41
Common Sense Can Help
Sometimes an answer on the multiple choice
section contradicts common sense.
Eliminate those answers.
Common sense works on the APUS exam.
42
26. Which of the following best explains the most
important effect tobacco cultivation had on the
development of the Chesapeake Bay
settlements during the 17th century?
a. Because tobacco cultivation requires large tracts of
fertile land, it led to rapid expansionism in the region.
b. The immediate commercial success of tobacco forced
the settlers to defend against attacks by Spanish and
French settlers, who wanted to take control of the
tobacco trade.
c. Tobacco provided the settlers a lucrative crop to trade
with nearby native American tribes.
d. Dependence on tobacco as their only cash crop brought
the settlements to financial ruin in the early 1600s.
e. British customs houses established in the region to
regulate tobacco trade led to widespread resentment of
the British by the colonists.
43
How to Apply Common Sense.
Eliminate C - Why would Indians trade for
something they could easily grow?
There was no attack by the French or Spanish during
the 17th century, so eliminate that answer.
If tobacco was the main crop, that would help the
settlement’s finances rather than ruin it.
Eliminate D
Colonial resistance was still a hundred years away.
Eliminate E
That leaves the correct answer -- A
44
Context Clues
Some questions contain clues or
vocabulary words that will either
point you to the correct answer or at
least help you eliminate an incorrect
answer.
45
60) The Confiscation Act of 1861 authorized
the Union to
a. divert commercial production toward the
war effort
b. negotiate a settlement to the Civil war
with ambassadors from the Confederacy
c. liberate those slaves used by the
Confederacy “for insurrectionary purposes”
d. stop merchant ships headed for Europe
and seize their cargo
e. arrest those advocating secession and hold
them without a writ of habeas corpus
46
• If you don’t remember the Confiscation Act of
1861, the word confiscation might give you enough
of a context clue to answer this question correctly
anyway.
•
•
•
•
Which answers do not deal with confiscation?
b - negotiate
e - arrest
a - diverting commercial production
• D does not mention WHOSE ships are to be
seized.
• C is correct because slaves were considered
private property. In order to liberate slaves,
Union soldiers had to confiscate private property.
47
Summary
Familiarize yourself with the different types of
questions that will appear on the multiple choice
section.
Remember
there are many questions about political and social history
some questions about international relations
and
relatively few about economic and cultural trends.
Tailor your studies accordingly.
48
Look for “big picture” answers.
Correct answers on the multiple choice
section confirm important trends in
American History (change over time)
There are no questions about weird
exceptions that contradict those
trends and no questions about
military history.
49
You will not be required to perform
miraculous feats of memorization.
However, you still must study and
become familiar with the basics of
US History
and
there are a lot of basics to know.
50
Use the chronological ordering of questions
to determine which time period you are
being asked about.
Remember questions are presented in groups
of eight to twelve.
Each group maintains chronological order
and
each group is a little more difficult than the
one preceding it.
51
Use process of elimination on all but
the easiest questions.
Once you have worked on a question,
eliminated some answers and
convinced yourself you cannot
eliminate any other incorrect
answers, you should guess and move
on the next question.
Use common sense. Look for context
clues.
52
Last But Not Least
It is your responsibility to prepare for the
test.
Studying the night before for a few hours
will not do any justice.
You will have spent an entire year in this
class to prepare you for this test.
It’s game day -- don’t blow it!
Seize the opportunity to earn college credit
and demonstrate success.
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